Red Orchestra
Encyclopedia
The Red Orchestra was the name given by the Gestapo
to an anti-Nazi resistance movement
in Berlin
, as well as to Soviet
espionage rings operating in German-occupied Europe and Switzerland
during World War II
.
. Thus, German counterintelligence called the Soviet covert network die rote Kapelle ("the Red Orchestra").
, and Belgium
, the Red Three in Switzerland
, and the Schulze-Boysen/Harnack group in Berlin
.
In 1942 the RSHA established the Red Orchestra Special Detachment . It included representatives of the Gestapo
, Abwehr
, and the SD
.
was an agent of the GRU
. In early 1939, he was sent to Brussels
, posing as a Canadian
industrialist, to establish a commercial cover for a spy network in France and the Low Countries
. Trepper established the cover firm the "Foreign Excellent Raincoat Company" in Brussels, an export firm with branches in many major European ports. Following the fall of Belgium
in May 1940, he moved to Paris
and established the cover firms of Simex in Paris and Simexco in Brussels. Both companies sold black market goods to the Germans and made a profit doing so. Belgian born socialite Suzanne Spaak
joined the Trepper Group in Paris after seeing the conduct of the Nazi occupiers in her country.
Trepper directed seven GRU networks in France, and the network steadily gathered military and industrial intelligence in Occupied Europe, including data on troop deployments, industrial production, raw material availability, aircraft production, and German tank designs. Trepper was also able to get important information through his contacts with highly-placed Germans. Posing as a German businessman, he held dinner parties at which he acquired information on the morale and attitudes of German military figures, troop movements, and plans for the Eastern Front
.
In addition, contacts between the Simex company and its main customer, the Todt Organization, provided information on German military fortifications and troop movements. As a further bonus, these contacts supplied some of Trepper's agents with passes that allowed them to move freely in German-occupied areas.
In December 1941, German security forces shut down Trepper's transmitter in Brussels. Trepper himself was arrested on 5 December 1942 in Paris. He agreed to work for the Germans, and began transmitting disinformation
to Moscow
, which may have included hidden warnings. In September 1943 he escaped and went into hiding with the French Resistance
.
Operations by the Trepper ring had been entirely eliminated by the spring of 1943. Most agents were executed, including Suzanne Spaak
at Fresnes Prison
, just thirteen days before the Liberation of Paris
in 1944. Trepper himself survived the war.
, a Luftwaffe
staff officer, his wife Libertas
, Arvid Harnack
, a lawyer and economist, his American wife Mildred, and a number of sympathetic friends and acquaintances.
Schulze-Boysen had been active in opposition to the Nazis before Hitler took power, but then joined the Luftwaffe for "cover". In private, he continued to meet with other anti-Nazis, including Libertas, whom he married in 1936.
Harnack also had a circle of anti-Nazi associates. He joined the NSDAP in 1937 for "cover".
In 1939, the two groups made contact, and began to work together.
The combined group ran the gamut of German society, including Communists
, political conservatives, Jews
, devout Catholics, and atheists. Their ages ran from 16 to 86, and about 40% were women.
Among its leading members were theatrical producer Adam Kuckhoff
and his wife Greta, pianist
Helmut Roloff
, secretary Ilse Stöbe
, diplomat Rudolf von Scheliha
, author Günther Weisenborn, potter
Cato Bontjes van Beek
, Horst Heilmann (an officer in the Cipher Section of OKH
), and photojournalist
John Graudenz (who had been expelled from the USSR for reporting on the Soviet famine of 1932–1933).
The group gathered intelligence from many sources.
The group was not in contact with the USSR by radio.
For the remainder of 1941, the Schulze-Boysen/Harnack group gave most of its intelligence to the United States
through the American embassy's monetary attaché, Donald Heath.
However, these efforts to inform other governments about Nazi atrocities and war plans were only a small part of their resistance effort.
Their primary activity was the distribution of leaflets, to incite civil disobedience
and cause the Nazis to worry about subversion. They also printed and pasted up anti-Nazi stickers in large numbers, and they helped people in danger from the Nazis to escape the country via an Underground Railroad
-like network.
The network began to unravel in 1942. The OKH Cipher Section decoded some of Trepper's radio traffic, and on 30 July 1942 the Gestapo arrested radio operator Johann Wenzel. Horst Heilmann tried to warn Schulze-Boysen, but the warning was not in time. Schulze-Boysen was arrested on 30 August, and Harnack on 3 September. The rest of the group was arrested within a few weeks, and many were executed.
(codename DORA), a Hungarian
émigré, Communist, and geographer
. The Roten Drei was founded in 1936, when Rado arrived in Geneva
. By April 1942, the organization had been established with Radó as group leader, and also had three subgroup leaders: Rachel Dübendörfer (codename SISSY), Georges Blun (LONG), and Otto Pünter (PAKBO).
Radó's group collected much useful information in Switzerland, and had some contacts inside Germany. Perhaps most importantly, Radó was also in touch with the Lucy spy ring
, which had very valuable contacts inside Germany, and was linked to British
intelligence.
It has been speculated that the Lucy ring was used by British intelligence to pass Ultra
information to Soviet intelligence without revealing the codebreaking operation that was its source.
In 1944-1945, Radó was recalled to the USSR, and charged with spying for Britain and the U.S. He was imprisoned for eight years, but was released and rehabilitated after Stalin
's death.
, a senior British MEP, to mark the 70th Anniversary of the raid by the German Abwehr on the Red Orchestra Brussels HQ. It will include a seminar with Hans Coppi, Jr.
and other leading Red Orchestra experts, and a commemorative reception. The Russian Ambassador to the EU, H.E. Vladimir Chizhov, is guest of honour. The American Ambassador Howard W. Gutman
, the British Ambassador Jonathan Brenton and the Israeli Ambassador to Belgium will attend together with a representative of the German Government.
Remembering Leopold Trepper and the Red Orchestra
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
to an anti-Nazi resistance movement
Resistance movement
A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, as well as to Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
espionage rings operating in German-occupied Europe and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Name
The term 'Red Orchestra' was coined by the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA), which referred to resistance radio operators as 'pianists', their transmitters as 'pianos', and their supervisors as 'conductors'. "Red" stood for communismCommunism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. Thus, German counterintelligence called the Soviet covert network die rote Kapelle ("the Red Orchestra").
German counter-intelligence operations
The RSHA included three independent espionage networks in the "Red Orchestra": the Trepper group, in Germany, FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, the Red Three in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, and the Schulze-Boysen/Harnack group in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
In 1942 the RSHA established the Red Orchestra Special Detachment . It included representatives of the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
, Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
, and the SD
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
.
Trepper Group
Leopold TrepperLeopold Trepper
Leopold Trepper was an organizer of the Soviet spy ring Rote Kapelle prior to and during World War II....
was an agent of the GRU
GRU
GRU or Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye is the foreign military intelligence directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation...
. In early 1939, he was sent to Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, posing as a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
industrialist, to establish a commercial cover for a spy network in France and the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
. Trepper established the cover firm the "Foreign Excellent Raincoat Company" in Brussels, an export firm with branches in many major European ports. Following the fall of Belgium
Battle of Belgium
The Battle of Belgium or Belgian Campaign formed part of the greater Battle of France, an offensive campaign by Germany during the Second World War...
in May 1940, he moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and established the cover firms of Simex in Paris and Simexco in Brussels. Both companies sold black market goods to the Germans and made a profit doing so. Belgian born socialite Suzanne Spaak
Suzanne Spaak
Suzanne Spaak , World War II heroine.Suzanne Spaak was born into a prosperous Belgian banking family sometime around 1905...
joined the Trepper Group in Paris after seeing the conduct of the Nazi occupiers in her country.
Trepper directed seven GRU networks in France, and the network steadily gathered military and industrial intelligence in Occupied Europe, including data on troop deployments, industrial production, raw material availability, aircraft production, and German tank designs. Trepper was also able to get important information through his contacts with highly-placed Germans. Posing as a German businessman, he held dinner parties at which he acquired information on the morale and attitudes of German military figures, troop movements, and plans for the Eastern Front
Eastern Front
Eastern Front may refer to one of the following:* Eastern Front * Eastern Front * Eastern Front * Eastern Front * Eastern Front * 1635: The Eastern Front...
.
In addition, contacts between the Simex company and its main customer, the Todt Organization, provided information on German military fortifications and troop movements. As a further bonus, these contacts supplied some of Trepper's agents with passes that allowed them to move freely in German-occupied areas.
In December 1941, German security forces shut down Trepper's transmitter in Brussels. Trepper himself was arrested on 5 December 1942 in Paris. He agreed to work for the Germans, and began transmitting disinformation
Disinformation
Disinformation is intentionally false or inaccurate information that is spread deliberately. For this reason, it is synonymous with and sometimes called black propaganda. It is an act of deception and false statements to convince someone of untruth...
to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, which may have included hidden warnings. In September 1943 he escaped and went into hiding with the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
.
Operations by the Trepper ring had been entirely eliminated by the spring of 1943. Most agents were executed, including Suzanne Spaak
Suzanne Spaak
Suzanne Spaak , World War II heroine.Suzanne Spaak was born into a prosperous Belgian banking family sometime around 1905...
at Fresnes Prison
Fresnes Prison
Fresnes Prison is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne South of Paris...
, just thirteen days before the Liberation of Paris
Liberation of Paris
The Liberation of Paris took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the surrender of the occupying German garrison on August 25th. It could be regarded by some as the last battle in the Battle for Normandy, though that really ended with the crushing of the Wehrmacht forces between the...
in 1944. Trepper himself survived the war.
Schulze-Boysen/Harnack group
The Schulze-Boysen/Harnack group in Berlin was formed by Harro Schulze-BoysenHarro Schulze-Boysen
Heinz Harro Max Wilhelm Georg Schulze-Boysen was a German officer, commentator, and German Resistance fighter against German dictator Adolf Hitler's Nazi régime.- Early life :...
, a Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
staff officer, his wife Libertas
Libertas Schulze-Boysen
Libertas Schulze-Boysen, born Libertas Viktoria Haas-Heye was a German opponent of the Nazis who belonged to the Red Orchestra resistance group during the Third Reich.- Early years :Schulze-Boysen spent her childhood at her grandfather's estate Philip, Prince of Eulenburg and Hertefeld...
, Arvid Harnack
Arvid Harnack
Arvid Harnack was a German jurist, economist, and resistance fighter in Nazi Germany.- Early years :...
, a lawyer and economist, his American wife Mildred, and a number of sympathetic friends and acquaintances.
Schulze-Boysen had been active in opposition to the Nazis before Hitler took power, but then joined the Luftwaffe for "cover". In private, he continued to meet with other anti-Nazis, including Libertas, whom he married in 1936.
Harnack also had a circle of anti-Nazi associates. He joined the NSDAP in 1937 for "cover".
In 1939, the two groups made contact, and began to work together.
The combined group ran the gamut of German society, including Communists
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, political conservatives, Jews
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, devout Catholics, and atheists. Their ages ran from 16 to 86, and about 40% were women.
Among its leading members were theatrical producer Adam Kuckhoff
Adam Kuckhoff
Adam Kuckhoff was a German writer, journalist, and resistance fighter in the Third Reich....
and his wife Greta, pianist
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
Helmut Roloff
Helmut Roloff
Helmut Roloff was a German pianist and teacher.Roloff was born in Giessen where his father was a university history professor who was a staunch anti-Nazi. Roloff entered the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin in 1935, studying with Richard Rüssler...
, secretary Ilse Stöbe
Ilse Stöbe
Ilse Stöbe was a German journalist and anti-Nazi resistance fighter.Ilse Stöbe grew up in a working class home in Berlin...
, diplomat Rudolf von Scheliha
Rudolf von Scheliha
Rudolf von Scheliha was a German diplomat executed by the Nazis during World War II.Scheliha was born in Zessel, Oels, Silesia , as the son of a Prussian squire. He served as an army officer in World War I, studied law and joined the German Foreign Service in 1922...
, author Günther Weisenborn, potter
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
Cato Bontjes van Beek
Cato Bontjes van Beek
Cato Bontjes van Beek was a German member of the resistance against the Nazi regime.- Early years :...
, Horst Heilmann (an officer in the Cipher Section of OKH
Oberkommando des Heeres
The Oberkommando des Heeres was Nazi Germany's High Command of the Army from 1936 to 1945. The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht commanded OKH only in theory...
), and photojournalist
Photojournalism
Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism...
John Graudenz (who had been expelled from the USSR for reporting on the Soviet famine of 1932–1933).
The group gathered intelligence from many sources.
The group was not in contact with the USSR by radio.
For the remainder of 1941, the Schulze-Boysen/Harnack group gave most of its intelligence to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
through the American embassy's monetary attaché, Donald Heath.
However, these efforts to inform other governments about Nazi atrocities and war plans were only a small part of their resistance effort.
Their primary activity was the distribution of leaflets, to incite civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
and cause the Nazis to worry about subversion. They also printed and pasted up anti-Nazi stickers in large numbers, and they helped people in danger from the Nazis to escape the country via an Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
-like network.
The network began to unravel in 1942. The OKH Cipher Section decoded some of Trepper's radio traffic, and on 30 July 1942 the Gestapo arrested radio operator Johann Wenzel. Horst Heilmann tried to warn Schulze-Boysen, but the warning was not in time. Schulze-Boysen was arrested on 30 August, and Harnack on 3 September. The rest of the group was arrested within a few weeks, and many were executed.
Red Three
There was one part of the Red Orchestra which was outside the reach of German security forces: Die Roten Drei (Sender) (the Red Three (stations)") in Switzerland. It was headed by Alexander RadóAlexander Rado
Alexander Radó, born as Sándor Radó and also known as Alexander Radolfi , was a Hungarian cartographer and a Soviet military intelligence agent in World War II.-Life:...
(codename DORA), a Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
émigré, Communist, and geographer
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
. The Roten Drei was founded in 1936, when Rado arrived in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
. By April 1942, the organization had been established with Radó as group leader, and also had three subgroup leaders: Rachel Dübendörfer (codename SISSY), Georges Blun (LONG), and Otto Pünter (PAKBO).
Radó's group collected much useful information in Switzerland, and had some contacts inside Germany. Perhaps most importantly, Radó was also in touch with the Lucy spy ring
Lucy spy ring
In World War II espionage, the Lucy spy ring was an anti-German operation that was headquartered in Switzerland. It was run by Rudolf Roessler, a German refugee and ostensibly the proprietor of a small publishing firm, Vita Nova...
, which had very valuable contacts inside Germany, and was linked to British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
intelligence.
It has been speculated that the Lucy ring was used by British intelligence to pass Ultra
Ultra
Ultra was the designation adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by "breaking" high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. "Ultra" eventually became the standard...
information to Soviet intelligence without revealing the codebreaking operation that was its source.
In 1944-1945, Radó was recalled to the USSR, and charged with spying for Britain and the U.S. He was imprisoned for eight years, but was released and rehabilitated after Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's death.
Commemorative Events
On Tuesday, 6 December 2011, former MEP Mark F. Watts of Luther Pendragon Brussels is organising a commemorative event in the European Parliament hosted by Peter SkinnerPeter Skinner
Peter Skinner is a Member of the European Parliament for the Labour Party for South East England. Educated at St. Josephs R.C. Secondary Modern School in Orpington, Kent, he attended Bradford University between 1979 and 1982 where he attained a BSc in Economics and Politics...
, a senior British MEP, to mark the 70th Anniversary of the raid by the German Abwehr on the Red Orchestra Brussels HQ. It will include a seminar with Hans Coppi, Jr.
Hans Coppi, Jr.
Dr. Hans Coppi, Jr. is a German historian. His parents, Hilde and Hans Coppi, were active in the German Resistance and were both executed by the Nazis.- Nazi victim at birth :...
and other leading Red Orchestra experts, and a commemorative reception. The Russian Ambassador to the EU, H.E. Vladimir Chizhov, is guest of honour. The American Ambassador Howard W. Gutman
Howard W. Gutman
Howard W. Gutman is the United States Ambassador to Belgium. After being nominated as Ambassador by United States President Barack Obama, Gutman was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 29, 2009 and sworn in as Ambassador on August 14, 2009....
, the British Ambassador Jonathan Brenton and the Israeli Ambassador to Belgium will attend together with a representative of the German Government.
Remembering Leopold Trepper and the Red Orchestra
External links
- Film about the Red Orchestra
- Plötzensee Memorial Centre
- BFCentral
- on Sophia Poznanska
- Book review of Red Orchestra by Anne Nelson. Random HouseRandom HouseRandom House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
website. Retrieved April 7, 2010